EINSTEIN, ALBERT. (1879-1955). German-born physicist, humanitarian and Nobel Prize winner; promulgator of the general and special theories of relativity. TLS. (“A. Einstein”). ½p. 4to. Princeton, April 30, 1952. On his blind-embossed letterhead. To Austrian-Jewish poet and fellow expatriate MASCHA KALÉKO (1907-1975).

I find your poem very beautiful and meaningful. Incidentally, it touches on a deep metaphysical  problem posed through physics that has become especially current, and by which Bergson especially was troubled and animated. With friendly thanks and greetings…

Metaphysics, an ancient branch of philosophy that attempts to explain the existence of the physical world and which predates modern science, appealed to Einstein whose interest in the philosophy behind his work in physics is evident in his writings about relativity as well as his quest for a unified field theory.

Our letter comments on Kaléko’s poem, Die Zeit Steht Still, (Time Stands Still) which deals with the subjects of life, death, time, space, and the physical world. Like Einstein, Kaléko was a refugee from the Hitler regime. Although born in Austria, she came to prominence in 1930s Berlin until Nazi censorship drove her to immigrate to the United States. She lived in Hollywood and New York City’s Greenwich Village (where she was at the time of our letter) before settling in Israel in 1959. Our letter does not identify Kaléko’s poem, however a February 16, 1956 article about Kaléko in Germany’s newspaper Die Zeit entitled “Die Dichterin und der Gelehrte” (“The Poet and the Scholar”), quotes Einstein’s letter and identifies Die Zeit Steht Still as the poem he referenced.

Nobel prize-winning French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson (1859-1941) stressed the discovery of truth through intuition rather than analysis and “is perhaps most remembered for his bold challenge to Einstein’s theory of the relativity of simultaneity” in his work Duration and Simultaneity: Bergson and the Einsteinian Universe, (“Challenger to Einstein’s Theory of Time,” Times Higher Education, Percival). “Bergson maintained that Einstein’s theory did not cope with our intuition of time, which is an intuition of duration… Einstein’s theory, in which all space-time points within it are fixed, was a testable version of… metaphysics… Bergson focused his criticism on Einstein’s special theory of relativity… However, many physicists pointed out that Bergson’s criticism was flawed [but] this did not prevent Bergson’s influence from being monumental in many fields of thought,” (ibid.). Bergson’s widespread popularity died out after his zenith in the 1920s although his contribution to philosophy and physics is now being reconsidered. His other works include Creative Evolution, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (both of which were banned by the Catholic Church)andAn Introduction to Metaphysics. Shortly before his death, Bergson protested the anti-Semitism of the Vichy regime by refusing to accept special privileges offered to him and voluntarily registered himself as a Jew, despite his lack of belief in the religion of his birth.

Folded with some light wear. In very good condition and an unusual association.

Item #17081

Die Zeit steht still

Die Zeit steht still. Wir sind es, die vergehen.

Und doch, wenn wir im Zug vorüberwehen,

scheint Haus und Feld und Herden, die da grasen,

wie ein Phantom an uns vorbeizurasen.

Da winkt uns wer und schwindet wie im Traum,

mit Haus und Feld, Laternenpfahl und Baum.

So weht wohl auch die Landschaft unsres Lebens

an uns vorbei zu einem andern Stern

und ist im Nahekommen uns schon fern.

Sie anzuhalten suchen wir vergebens

und wissen wohl, dies alles ist nur Trug.

Die Landschaft bleibt, indessen unser Zug

zurücklegt die ihm zugemessnen Meilen.

Die Zeit steht still. Wir sind es, die enteilen.